Strangers in a Strange Land
by general zargon
Summary: A mission goes bad, and Rin and Yukio find themselves in a strange forest in an even stranger place. It's a good thing that they're used to things trying to kill them. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Because I think this crossover has a lot of potential, I decided to try my hand at writing one. I know, I know, I should be working on my other multi-chapter stories, but what the plot bunnies want, the plot bunnies eventually get...*Cue organ music and lightning flash* Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this story, as it's my first time writing for Blue Exorcist characters, so feel free to read on._

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Before Yukio Okumura finished regaining consciousness, his head pounding and his tongue feeling like it had been replaced with a piece of sandpaper, he had already decided that whatever it was that had happened was all his older twin brother Rin's fault.

It took him a few minutes to open his eyes, the delay a combination of the throbbing pain in his head and his eyelids feeling like they'd been glued shut. When he managed to open them a crack, he promptly slammed them back closed - bad idea, he thought as his headache reached new heights of pain, definitely a bad idea, as the light had seemed to shine directly into his eyes. Honestly, the myriad of aches and pains over his body felt a lot like that one time he'd made the mistake of going out drinking with his fellow exorcist Shura.

He had woken up in a similar condition in the middle of a forest sans pants and yet somehow still retaining his guns and boots. No one, including him, knew what exactly had happened to land him in that condition, but after searching around his pockets he had discovered a paper talisman and a salamander tooth that he knew for certain he hadn't had the day before. The Dragoon/Doctor class exorcist exerted great force of will and once again cracked open his eyes, cringing away from the painful sting of the bright light above him, and it took him a moment to register that the source of the light he'd noted previously was actually the _sun_.

That was odd for several reasons, the greatest of which was that the last thing he remembered was fighting a demon at _night_, which meant that either he'd been unconscious for longer than he was comfortable with or...he couldn't think of another reason at the moment, groaning as he slowly, carefully rolled over onto his side. Yes, he thought, in a great deal of pain from the movement, somehow he was absolutely sure that whatever had happened was Rin's fault.

Yukio recalled, vaguely, going out on a mission with Rin and...Bon - er, Ryuuji? The oddity of that made him pause for a moment to be sure that that was an actual memory before he moved on (apparently the mission had required an Aria and someone with excellent memorization skills, and Bon was both of those), trying to recall any specifics. Unfortunately, nothing else came to mind through the pounding in his head, and he reluctantly stopped trying - for the moment anyway.

His eyes, which had drifted closed while he'd been thinking, slowly opened again, one hand drifting up to rub at the sleep-gunk that was trying to glue his eyelids shut. Once he judged that he'd gotten enough of the stuff off that he was going to get, he opened his eyes again, thinking that the third time was the charm. And he was sort of right, he thought wryly, gazing incredulously at the veritable _wall_ of greenery in front of him as he levered himself up onto his knees, his arms shaking with exertion and his aching body protesting the action. He counted himself lucky that, whatever had happened, his glasses were still on his face, and thus he didn't have to deal with blurry vision on top of everything else.

The green wall turned out to be made of bushes of various types, not to mention vines hanging from leafy tree branches, and he blinked wordlessly at the sight. Doubtlessly Shiemi would have known what each piece of foliage was and if any of them could be used (or eaten, he noticed some of the bushes had berries), even if she would have called them by her own names for them instead of their proper names. As it was, the socially-awkward blonde wasn't there, and Yukio could only put a name to a few types of vines, and unfortunately none of them were of any use to him at the moment.

Sighing resignedly, he rubbed at his eyes again, slowly moving so that his back was to the wall of foliage and a minute later he had a good view of the opposite direction. When he saw the still, dark-clad form that had been laying behind him, it was like his heart stopped in shock and fear and before another thought crossed his mind he was scrambling over to where Rin was sprawled on the ground. It was unquestionably his older twin, the black hair, the elf-like pointed ears, and the faintly twitching tail and all.

Yukio sighed in relief when he saw his brother's tail moving, that movement reassuring him more than anything as it meant that Rin was still alive. He could deal with anything else, he thought in relief, as long as his brother was alive and more-or-less okay. Judging by the peaceful expression and thin line of drool coming from Rin's mouth, the black-haired teen was merely sleeping and Yukio had simply been the first one of them to wake up in...wherever it was they were.

As far as the experienced exorcist could tell they were in the middle of some kind of forest, or at least that was what the large amount of greenery, the bright blue sky above them, and the chorus of bird song and various other animal sounds seemed to indicate. The foliage wasn't thick enough to be called a jungle, as he could see more than a dozen feet in each direction through the trees, and when he didn't see anything even remotely threatening he relaxed a bit, looking back at his brother's sleeping face.

His headache was slowly but surely beginning to fade away, and he shifted so that he was sitting cross-legged, contemplating whether or not he should try to wake up Rin or let the older twin regain consciousness naturally. Yukio knew from experience that it was difficult to wake Rin on normal days, which was why he enlisted Kuro's help more often than not, and then there was the fact that he didn't know if Rin had sustained any hidden injuries or was under a sleep spell or some condition caused by - well, by the mission that he couldn't remember to consider...He groaned wearily, his headache spiking as his thoughts went around in circles and he sighed in exasperation.

Despite his confusion and slight uncertainty over waking up in a strange forest next to his unconscious brother, he had to admit that they could have been in a worse situation. At least the scenery was nice, Yukio thought, trying to be optimistic, though that only lasted until he saw a strange purple squirrel-like thing with small horns scurry across the clearing and up a tree. Okay, things just got a little worse, he sighed again - strange forest critters aside, he didn't think they were in Gehenna, as that squirrel-thing would have probably tried to eat him if that was the case.

Just as he was trying to figure out where they were, staring in a kind of fearful fascination as a large bright green bird flew overhead (and he was fairly certain that that bird had also had horns...), he was jolted out of his thoughts by the sound of his brother waking up. Whipping his head around to look at Rin so quickly he almost pulled a muscle, he watched anxiously as his brother sat up, stretching and yawning as though he was just waking up from a nap. Showing no signs of the aches and pains that were afflicting Yukio, which the younger twin thought was very unfair, Rin yawned a second time before blinking dazed-looking blue eyes and uttering a bemused, "Wha?"

Yukio resisted the urge to face-palm, though just barely, instead hanging his head and sighing before straightening up as best he could and smiling wanly as he said, "I'm glad you're alright, Rin. You _are_ alright, aren't you?" The last was said with a small amount of barely concealed concern, just in case his brother had any unseen injuries or mystery pains.

A faintly relieved expression crossed his face when Rin nodded his head in confusion, only to vanish a moment later when Rin asked the dreaded question, "What about you? Are you okay?" and he struggled to come up with a vague-yet-satisfying answer. Unfortunately he took a minute too long to answer, because before he could blink Rin was scrambling across the few feet that separated them, his tail lashing with worry behind him as the appendage slipped out of his older brother's shirt. Yukio flinched back when Rin brought his face close to his, blue eyes locked on blue as Rin demanded, "What's wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?"

The exorcist leaned back, raising his hands defensively as he hurried to assure his brother, "No, no I'm fine, just a few aches and a headache..." and after he finished speaking, he realized too late that that was wrong thing to say as he watched Rin's expression change into one of deep concern. He spent the next ten minutes fighting off Rin's attempts to take off his shirt - as if he'd be hiding an actual wound! he thought in exasperation - and take his temperature and a dozen other things while at the same time assuring Rin that the aches weren't any worse than the ones he had after a hard day's training or a mission that required a lot of physical activity and that his headache was already fading. It took another six minutes for Rin to grudgingly believe him and back down, sitting cross-legged a few inches in front of Yukio.

Rin fidgeted a bit, his tail flicking uncertainly behind him as he glanced around, eyes open for anything suspicious or dangerous, and after a moment he asked, "Soooo...where are we? This doesn't look anything like that shrine..." he trailed off, seeing Yukio's confused look, and he asked defensively, "What? It doesn't! Even I can see that!"

Yukio shook his head hurriedly, asking Rin in confusion, "No, it's not that, it's just - what shrine are you talking about?" he was sure he'd remember if they'd been visiting a shrine...wouldn't he?

"Huh? What do you mean 'what shrine'? The Koodorishinja Shrine*! Don't you remember...?" The last part trailed off as Rin leaned forward, his eyes trained on the confused and strangely vulnerable expression that stubbornly refused to leave Yukio's face, and it was with the force of a revelation that Rin breathed out, "You really don't..." A few moments of uncomfortable silence descended, Yukio reluctant to admit - out loud - that he had no memory of the mission that had landed them in their current predicament and Rin uneasy about being the one who knew the most about the situation for a change. The role didn't feel nearly as good as he thought it would have, Rin reflected morosely, looking uncertainly at his brother before taking a deep breath.

"Okay, it all started a couple of days ago, I think, since I don't know how long we were out for, when you, me, and Bon got called for a mission," Rin started, Yukio listening attentively, trying to piece together his own memories of the mission as his brother spoke, "The one calling for help was the head priest of this shrine on an isolated mountain, the Koodorishinja Shrine, which I remember because it's name sounded funny. Apparently lately some strange things had been happening around the shrine, disappearing idols, strange lights, spooky noises and everything, and they just kept getting worse until they were beginning to effect the small town at the base of the mountain. The deity of the shrine wasn't responding to the priest's prayers and he and the lesser priests were at their wits' end trying to figure out what was going on, so the head priest called True Cross Academy. I don't really know how the mission got passed to you, but after class you told me and Bon to stay behind - apparently you thought that the things going in the shrine were the result of a poltergeist or low level demon."

"So, I guess you decided to bring Bon along because he'd memorized a lot of purification rituals and chants, and you asked me to come in order to protect Bon while he was chanting in case something slipped by you. Well we got to shrine about a day after the request came, and let me tell you, the place was a mess! It was even worse than our room after that dog spirit snuck in and got into a fight with Kuro!" Yeah, that _was_ pretty bad, Yukio winced at the memory as Rin snickered, "Anyway, there were priests running around and trying to fix things while being chased by umbrellas and sandals and there was even a coat rack floating around and smacking people. The priests - even the head priest! - all had their robes dyed weird colors and they had no clue how it had happened and when we showed up I swear half of them started crying in relief! It was kinda weird, but we followed the head priest to the altar room, which hadn't been touched by the weird stuff happening and Bon started doing his purification ritual-thingy."

Rin tilted his head thoughtfully, frowning as he reflected, "That's when things started getting weirder, I think. As soon as Bon started chanting, the candles started flickering and a breeze started blowing around the room, which shouldn't have happened considering we were inside and all the door were shut tight. The statues around the room started rattling and this weird clanging sound started coming from outside the door, but you said not to check and see what it was so I didn't. Then these weird shadow-things came out of the walls; I don't know what they were but they kind of looked like Hobgoblins crossed with will-o'-wisps, except all shadow, you know? They started whizzing around the room and shrieking and moaning and your bullets didn't do anything to them. My flames did though! I didn't even have to draw my sword," He held up said blade for emphasis, and Yukio just then noticed that the demon sword had been laying beside his brother the entire time. He must have been more out of it than he thought, to have missed that, "The minute I called my flames, the shadow-things retreated to the corners of the room and started up this really horrible shrieking in unison. Bon kept chanting though, even when I wanted to cover my ears, and you seemed fine so maybe I was the only one who heard it? Bon was getting to about the end of the ritual, I think, since the Gobliwisps - what? It's a cool name!" Rin defended, seeing Yukio's skeptical look.

Getting back on track, Rin continued the story, "Anyway, the Gobliwisps -" he glared when Yukio let out an amused snort, "they started exploding into these puffs of smoke and disappearing with tiny squeaking sounds. Once Bon finished the chant, we thought we were in the clear, but then the entire room started shaking, the statues fell over, and you and me could barely stay standing. Bon was already sitting down, so he was mostly fine. The incense holders fell as this weird blue gunk started bubbling up out of the floor, and then the gunk gathered together and made this thing - I don't know what it was, but it kinda looked like a Leaper crossed with a greyhound...it was freaky, let me tell ya. It made this clicking sound and started _talking_, which was even freakier, saying that it had sealed away the god of the shrine and that it was going to be the new deity, claiming that it was going to start off its' reign by devouring the priests and gaining more power. You said it was just a minor demon with delusions of grandeur though, and it got really mad about that and started making this croaking/barking noise."

Rin shrugged, wrinkling his nose as he said, "It smelled _awful_, like rotting meat and six month old gym shorts. It seriously made me want to hurl, but then you shot it and things got kinda crazy for a bit. Bon was chanting something, I think maybe he was trying to unseal the actual god of the shrine, but you and I were busy fighting the demon thing. It didn't like your holy water bullets, so it probably really was a demon, and I used my flames to corner it so you could get a good shot at it. Still didn't have to draw my sword - that thing was really, _really_ weak. I think it must have caught the shrine god by surprise in order to seal it away, since that's the only way I could think of it managing something like that. It didn't take too long to corner the thing, and the only reason it took more than ten minutes to kill it was because it kept jumping around so much. A few more holy water bullets and the demon was down for the count, but as it was dissolving into that blue gunk again, it gurgled something in another language, and then exploded. You and me were covered in a lot more gunk than it had taken to form the thing, but Bon had taken cover behind the altar so he didn't get any on him."

A moment's pause, and then the older twin admitted, "After that everything went kind of tingly and then things start getting fuzzy. Everything went black, and next thing I know I woke up here and saw you sitting next to me, apparently in worse shape than I am." The last bit was said pointedly, with a slight glare, and Yukio coughed a bit, looking to the side as a small blush darkened his cheeks, as always a bit uncomfortable with Rin's open concern.

But Rin's story had certainly filled in more than a few blanks, and as his brother had talked more and more memories had formed, confirming what Rin said. Unconsciously his shoulders relaxed at the return of his formerly absent memory of what had happened before he'd woken up. He also privately agreed with Rin's description of the creature's smell, as it really had been terrible, though what he found curious was that there was no trace of the aforementioned blue gunk that Rin had described. There was nary a stain or smudge in sight: his exorcist uniform looked as though it had just come back from the cleaners, that was how unstained it was, and a quick glance revealed that Rin's uniform, though rumpled from sleep, was just as gunk-free.

Yukio frowned, wondering a bit at that the absence of the goo that he now remembered getting hit with, but he set that issue aside for the moment. Still frowning thoughtfully, he said, "I see...then I suppose the first thing we should do is figure out where we are. It's possible that the...'stuff' we were covered with somehow transported us to somewhere else on the mountain, or to somewhere else entirely." And as though that was some sort of cue, the bushes to their left began to rustle and the sound of branches breaking reached the brothers' ears.

They were both on their feet in under a minute, stances wary and hands firmly grasping their weapons, Rin's on the hilt of his sword in case he needed to draw it and Yukio's on the grips of two of his guns. They didn't have to wait long for the source of the disturbance to show itself, a blur rocketing out of the bushes and lunging towards them, but the twins separated by diving in separate directions - Rin to the right and Yukio to the left. The creature landed in the middle of where they had been standing, letting both of them get a good look at it.

It looked like some sort of bizarre cross between a wolf and a bobcat: wolf-like snout, bobcat-like ears, wolf eyes, and the sideburn-esque tufts of fur that were signature of bobcats. It had sharp fangs, which were shown by the tooth-baring snarl that it was letting out, and the creature's eyes were a bright golden color. Its' body was like a mix of both; it had to be around 5 ft. tall at the shoulder and over 6 ft. long, not including the furry tail which added another 4 feet to its' length, and the animal's fur was a mottled gray and yellow, thick and soft-looking. Its' limbs were strongly muscled, its' paws resembling a cat's more than a wolf's, a broad chest like a wolf's and thicker fur around its' neck.

That was all they managed to see before the beast whirled around and lunged - towards Yukio, which was its' first and last mistake.

Before the creature had even gotten halfway to its' intended target, Yukio had drawn his guns and fired three rounds into the animal's chest, though unfortunately it seemed that either his holy water bullets weren't effective against whatever the animal was or the impact of the rounds had only served to daze the creature. Whatever the case, the animal's moment of confusion was long for Rin to call up a ball of blue fire and hurl it at the animal, which immediately yowled as the Flames of Satan engulfed it. Five minutes later, Rin was standing next to Yukio, their backs to the fire, and extinguishing the merrily burning blue flames, figuring that it had been long enough that the animal was probably nothing more than a charred lump of fur on the ground.

"...We should probably hope that that wasn't somebody's pet or familiar." Yukio commented, pushing his glassed up with one finger while he re-holstered his guns, mentally noting that holy water bullets hadn't affected it anymore than regular bullets would have.

Rin sheepishly scratched the back of his head before he said defensively, "Hey, who cares if it was?! If it did have an owner, they shouldn't have let it run around attacking people!" He nodded firmly as if in agreement with his own words, crossing his arms - sword in one hand - in the universal 'so there!' pose. Yukio just sighed and resisted the urge to massage the bridge of his nose as his prior headache made a brief comeback. Better to not think about the ramifications of killing someone's familiar and just start walking, he thought, opening his mouth to give voice to that thought when he was interrupted before he'd even started.

A brief roar from behind was all the warning Yukio had before something heavy slammed into him, pushing him to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. He hadn't even had time to brace himself for the impact, and he mentally prepared to feel the harsh bite of fangs sinking through his flesh. The pain never came, and a scarce second after Yukio had been knocked to the ground, the heavy weight that had been pinning him was gone. Immediately rolling onto his back, one hand struggling to draw one of his guns, he was greeted with the sight of Rin's back, cast into shadow because of the blue flames burning cheerfully in front of the older twin.

The strange animal, that had apparently been playing dead the first time, was most definitely dead this time, as Yukio stood up in time to see what was left of it reduced to ashes.

"...Thank you, Nii-san." Yukio said softly, smiling in gratitude when his older brother turned around, looking at him closely to make sure the Dragoon was alright.

"No problem," Rin shrugged nonchalantly, grinning with relief when he saw that Yukio was none the worse for wear, except for his uniform not being quite as pristine as it had been. Aw well, a few grass stains were a small price to pay for not getting bitten by a huge wolf-cat hybrid, Rin thought, following after Yukio when his little brother started walking away. "Sooooo, where we going?"

"To the nearest town to find out where we are and which way we need to go to get back home," Yukio answered, adding after a short pause, "And maybe get something to eat."

As if in response, Rin's belly let out a gurgle that sounded more like a demon's growl, and both Rin and Yukio shared a short laugh as they walked into the forest.

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_Author's Note: So, what did you think? No Fairy Tail characters yet, I know, but don't worry, they're going to show up soon! :D I originally had them running into Lisanna in this chapter, but then I thought "Nah, it's too soon, better wait,". I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, as it's my first time writing Blue Exorcist characters!_

_*Koodorishinja Shrine: A place I made up, as far as I know it's not a real shrine. Name means "Dancing Sacred Snake Shrine"._


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: I know, I know, a lot of you guys are waiting for me to update my other multi-chapter stories, but I'm afraid I have some bad news - I left the USB stick with the in-progress chapters for them over at my brother's house, and until I can go back and get it, you'll have to make do with some new stuff. Thank you for being so understanding. ^.^_

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As Rin and Yukio walked through the forest, the sun made steady progress across the sky overhead, and both of them saw some frankly bizarre looking animals (even if Rin still maintained that one of them looked like Kuro, except with more fins). Yukio privately thought that the horned toad with the five eyes that they had walked passed looked like Amaimon's pet hobgoblin, which was disturbing in more ways than one.

The two of them stopped for a total of two breaks, one to rest and one to eat, and walked for a grand total of either four or five hours, if Yukio's estimate based on the position of the sun was right. Luckily the food break didn't take long, as Yukio had been able to kill two of the strange squirrel-like creatures with two well-placed shots and Rin had cooked them with his flames in less than half the time it would have taken a regular fire. Convenient, even if it did seem sort of strange to be roasting squirrel-things over the blue flames that almost all the demons of Gehenna feared, or at least Yukio thought so. Rin just seemed upset that he didn't have any spices to add to the meat to make it taste better.

While they had walked, trying to find the nearest town and avoid going around in circles, Yukio had noticed some of the greenery was different; like how they'd only seen bushes with white berries at the beginning of their trek, but now there were white _and_ blue berry bushes. Strange, but something he hoped meant they were getting closer to something that could tell them where they were.

Rin had Kurikara*, the demon sword that sealed his powers, slung across his back with some twine that he'd apparently found in one of his pockets so that his hands were free. Said hands were clasped behind the older twin's head, and Rin just looked bored, occasionally staring up at the sky, which was growing more and more visible the further they walked and watching various birds fly overhead. Yukio was more concerned with not getting lost, so he kept his attention focused solely on what was happening below the forest canopy, sometimes tugging his brother over to the side so that Rin didn't step in a hole or do something equally as ridiculous. A twisted ankle was one of the last things they needed, the more experienced exorcist thought sourly, sighing wearily as they walked passed another of the blue-and-white berry bushes.

Things got a bit more interesting as the sun started going down when three creatures that looked like someone had decided to mix deer and chickens together had attacked, only to be dead five minutes later due to the application of three bullets from one of Yukio's guns (regular ones, as he didn't want to waste his holy water ones just in case). That made Rin happy because he was starting to get hungry, it was about dinnertime, and "Come on, Yukio, don't you want to know whether they taste like deer, chicken, or something else? I bet it tastes like chicken!". He kind of did want to know, but there was no way he was admitting that to Rin.

He left the cooking of the deerickens (Yukio just looked at Rin was a perfectly deadpan expression upon hearing what his older brother had decided to christen the animals. Rin stuck his tongue out at him.) to Rin, as his brother was undoubtedly the best at cooking, while he walked around the perimeter of where they'd decided to camp for the night. He didn't want any nasty surprises to show up while they were sleeping, and once he made sure that there were no predators lurking around, he sat across from Rin, clapped his hands along with Rin, and then started eating. Normally he was against eating with his hands, but since they were stranded in the middle of a forest with no cutlery he supposed he would just have to get over that.

The animals, as it turned out, tasted almost exactly like chicken. Rin looked smug the entire time it took them to finish eating and pick out the most comfortable places on the ground to sleep.

Nothing eventful happened that night, at least as far as they were able to tell after a few minutes spent checking, and up and walking again they were as the sun rose completely over the horizon, sparing a moment to make sure they didn't accidentally start walking back the way they'd come. Rin was humming some sort of opening song to an anime under his breath, and Yukio was busy being relieved that they were starting to pass bushes with red berries - it was a small thing, but anything familiar would have been welcome at that point, he thought. He was also beginning to suspect that Rin was spending too much time around Sir Pheles when his twin switched from one song to another without missing a beat.

Making a mental note to keep a closer watch on how much time Rin spent with the anime/manga-obsessed Headmaster of True Cross Academy when they got back (because failing to do that wasn't even an option in his mind), Yukio sighed, wondering out loud, "I wonder where the nearest source of water is..." because, now that he was paying attention to his own body, he noticed his feet hurt and his mouth felt as dry as the Sahara desert, gritty and dry in equal measure.

Judging by Rin's frown, the more demonic of the two twins wasn't fairing much better on the thirst issue, even if the deerickens (Yukio had pretty much given up on arguing with his brother about the ridiculous names he'd taken to giving things. Though he still couldn't believe that Rin had eaten two of the things - sure they weren't that big, but still-!) they'd eaten had helped stave off the thirst. They didn't have any other choice but to keep walking and hope to come across a stream or a lake or something. Yukio was pretty sure that Rin could boil the water with his flames and make it safe to drink, so that wasn't a problem.

Their steps were slow and measured, feet dragging slightly on the ground as they grew more tired, until almost an hour later, the sun almost directly overhead, when Rin abruptly stopped, pointed ears perked up and twitching. Abruptly, and without any more explanation than a quickly shouted, "Follow me!" Rin took off running to the left, followed closely by his brother as both sprinted through the trees and avoided low-hanging branches.

Yukio's mental question about what had grabbed Rin's attention so thoroughly was answered when they burst through some particularly thick bushes and came to a skidding stop right on the bank of a gently moving stream. From what Yukio could tell, after mentally saying prayers of thanks to any gods he could think of, the stream - it was definitely too small to be a river - was only five foot wide and two feet deep, but it was _water_, clean, clear water, so he wasn't about to complain. Rin was already dipping cupped hands into the stream and chugging down the water, his following sigh of relief telling Yukio all he needed to know about whether the water was safe or not.

Following Rin's lead, Yukio cupped his hands, dipped them beneath the surface of the water, and then raised them up to his lips. Some slipped out of course, but in the end he still got a mouthful of refreshing water, which he had the presence of mind to swish around his mouth before swallowing, allowing the cool liquid to soothe his parched throat. Several more handfuls of water later and his mouth finally stopped feeling like a desert, and he exchanged smiles with Rin, sitting back on his haunches as he asked curiously, "How did you know this stream was here?"

Rin shrugged, dropping back to sit on his butt as he answered, "Eh, I heard the water running over the rocks, so I figured there was a river or a pond or something around here."

Only Rin, Yukio thought warmly as he chuckled, only Rin.

His amusement was cut short when he felt a sharp sting in the back of his neck, and a second later everything went dark, the last thing he heard the sound of Rin shouting his name...

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_Author's Note: Apologies for the short chapter, but that seemed like the best place to end it since this story is only going to be a three-shot. There might be a sequel, there might not be a sequel, who knows? Only the plot bunnies, and they aren't telling me, that's for sure. :P_


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Annnnnnnd here's the last chapter of my first attempt at a Blue Exorcist-Fairy Tail crossover!_

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When Yukio went down, falling forward and landing face-first in the stream for all of the four seconds it took Rin to pull him out, the first (or technically second, if you counted saving Yukio from drowning while unconscious) thing Rin did was panic. In the midst of his panic, the half-demon managed to get Yukio stretched out on his side, just in case there was water in his twin's lungs or something, and while he was making Yukio as comfortable as possible, his gaze landed on the small needle sticking out of the back of Yukio's neck.

Anger was swiftly added to his panic, creating a potent and potentially explosive mixture even as Rin gently grasped the needle with the tips of two claws and drew it out and away from his brother. A few cautious sniffs revealed no substances on the needle that could have caused Yukio to pass out, at least as far as he could tell, and Rin flicked the needle away in disgust, causing the slim piece of metal to be embedded in the trunk of a tree a yard away. Carefully checking Yukio's vitals, just like they'd been taught in Doctor classes, Rin was relieved that, for all intents and purposes, it seemed Yukio was just sleeping. His main question, however, was how _exactly_ the needle had hit his brother, and who did he have to kill for trying to hurt his twin?

Okay, so technically that was two questions, but give him a break, his younger brother had just been shot with a needle and almost drowned, he was panicking!

Rin groaned, raising his hands to his hair and clenching the black strands between his fingers as he sat cross-legged at Yukio's side, looking morosely at his younger brother's back, both relieved by the steady rise and fall of Yukio's breathing and at a loss for how to help his twin further. None of the plants he'd seen while he and Yukio had been walking had looked familiar, and he didn't want to take the chance of using unfamiliar herbs and possibly worsening Yukio's condition. Besides, he'd never been the best in his Pharmacology class, and he honestly didn't know what had made Yukio pass out since he didn't smell any demons around, and in class it had been stressed that if you used the wrong medicine to treat an ailment it could be fatal to the patient.

So, yeah, he was going to hold off on experimenting with the local plants until he could either figure out what was wrong with his brother or Yukio woke up on his own. Judging by the more experienced Exorcist's deep, even breathing, Rin had a sinking feeling that it was going to be the first one. Well, it was no use just sitting there, Rin thought firmly, and he carefully stood up, shrugging as he did so to test that the string holding Kurikara to his back wasn't loose. It wasn't, and he carefully sniffed the air, searching for any scents that seemed out of place, his ears twitching slightly in alertness as he also listened for any strange sounds.

Sifting through the scents took some time, as he had to sort out the smells of the flowers, bushes, and trees that grew in the forest, but eventually his nose picked up the scent of...metal polish? and a whiff of curry? What the hell?

Rin could only blink a few times in confusion before the whistling sound of slim objects flying through the air reached his ears, and he instinctively ducked, throwing his whole body to the ground. The objects - needles, Rin noted from the corner of his eye - thudded into the trunk of a tree on the opposite side of the stream. The half-demon shoved himself back to his feet and hurled a rock he picked up on the way in the direction that the needles had come from, feeling vindicated when his action was rewarded with the sound of rock hitting flesh and a loud yelp from the one hit.

Of course, the vindicated feeling didn't last long, as a human-shaped blur darted out of a cluster of bushes further down the stream and responded to the rock with another cluster of needles. Rin ducked the glinting pieces of metal, charging towards the person before the needles were so much as a foot passed him, baring his fangs angrily when the attacker managed to dodge his first punch.

The next few minutes went by in a flurry of punches, kicks, and occasional needle-swipes, Rin steadily driving the assailant away from his downed brother. He knew how confusing things could get in a fight, and he didn't want to dodge an attack only to find out later that it had hit his brother because he'd evaded it. The person attacking him was good, Rin could admit in the very back of his mind, but Rin had the blood of the greatest fighter in all of Gehenna running through his veins - battling was instinctive for him, and now he let those instincts have free rein.

Punch, duck, side-step, kick, punch, punch, kick, and..._feint_!

Rin feinted going for a low punch on the assailant's left side and instead threw a devastating kick right to the needle-user's stomach, knocking them back almost six feet and sending them to the ground. Rin wasn't even breathing hard, the fight having lasted only about six minutes, and he was scowling as he got a good look at his opponent for the first time: It was a girl, though you'd hardly be able to tell that at first glance.

She had short brown hair the color of drying mud, wide brown eyes set in an oval face, and Rin judged her to be around five ft. tall when standing up - which at the moment she wasn't. She was wearing loose brown shorts and a baggy dark green t-shirt, although it wasn't like she had much of a figure to hide. If Rin hadn't seen the two small lumps on her chest, shown since the baggy shirt was pulled tight by virtue of the girl pressing her arms across her stomach, he would have thought she was a boy. Her shoes were so battered and muddy that he really couldn't tell if they were a brand name or not. She looked to be about 16-17 years-old, though Rin honestly wasn't sure one way or another.

All in all, not really a girl to write home about, Rin concluded, still scowling as he demanded, "What's the big idea? Why'd you attack me and my brother?!" He showed his fangs in an angry snarl, his anger over the sudden attack and his worry over his twin just begging to be let loose on a target.

The girl glared up at him, the look falling apart the minute she saw the genuine rage in Rin's eyes, and her eyes went down and to the side she said defensively, "It's your own fault! You swiped my mission!"

Now Rin was confused, "What are you talking about?" His first thought was 'exorcist mission', but that couldn't be right, since neither he nor Yukio had seen any demons around.

"The request I accepted, you jerk! Do you know how hard it is for mages without guilds to find work?!" The girl snapped, her arms tightening around her stomach, "It took me a week to find an open request board and a mission I can do, but then you and that unconscious guy show up and kill the monster that I was supposed to!"

Rin scowled, his blue eyes glowing with a hint of his flames as his confusion left and his anger returned, and he pointed out coldly, "'that unconscious guy' is my younger brother, and the only reason he's out is because of one of _your_ needles." the girl's mention of a monster got Rin thinking, since the only real 'monster' he and Yukio had killed after waking up in the forest had been...

The brunette's self-righteousness abruptly left, and she looked just a tiny bit sheepish, her shoulders slumping as she said, "I didn't mean to hurt him, I was just going to knock him out and you out and see if you had any money, honest, but then you dodged my needle attack..." A gleam appeared in the girl's eyes, and Rin's instincts started screaming '_trap!_' at the top of their metaphorical lungs.

Listening to his instincts, Rin summoned his flames, a blazing blue nebula forming around his body just as the girl thrust a hand out at him and yelled, "Needle Magic: Slicing Rain!" and a gray magic circle formed in front of her, releasing dozens upon dozens of four inch-long needles straight at him. They melted under the heat of Rin's flames before they even got close, and none of the weapons made it anywhere near Yukio.

The needle barrage ended after a minute, leaving the girl gaping at the sight of an unharmed and highly ticked-off Rin, and she swallowed quietly, finally realizing that maybe, just maybe, she might have made a mistake attacking the two boys who'd stolen her job.

That realization came a bit too late, however, and Rin was already in range as he delivered a hard punch right to the girl's stomach once again, sending her flying straight back into the stream. Which was a good thing, as his punch had also caused her shirt to catch on fire, causing her to shriek and roll around in the water in a desperate attempt to extinguish the bright blue flames.

Rin promptly felt avenged, and he was sure Yukio would to, once his younger twin woke up. He generally didn't like hitting girls, but she'd attacked first so it was okay, he figured smugly, watching the girl splash around.

He wasn't unmerciful, however, so after the girl's shirt had been reduced to a belly shirt he magnanimously allowed the flames to go out, leaving her only slightly singed. He also didn't laugh - no, really, he didn't...okay, so maybe he was having hysterics on the inside, but on the outside he was the picture of calmness, really! And no, that was _not_ a smug grin on his face, what are you talking about.

The girl came up sputtering, patting at her shirt anxiously to be sure that the fire was out, and Rin asked pointedly, "Are you done yet, or do you want to go another round?" A quick shake of her head was the answer to his question, and he asked, "Now, what did you do to my brother?"

"Just hit him in a pressure point, he'll be fine in about an hour since he's only sleeping..." She muttered, standing up and sending a cascade of water down her body, slogging quickly back onto the stream-bank.

Rin was understandably relieved, and because of that he graciously did not set the witch (which was one of the kinder names running through his head for her) on fire again. He did glare at her for a moment though, gratified to see her flinch before he turned and walked back over to his brother, trusting that he'd scared the girl enough that she wouldn't attack him again. As he reclaimed his position sitting cross-legged next to his brother's body, he said conversationally, "You know, I really don't know what you're talking about: Yukio and I haven't done anything that could qualify as stealing a job."

Wary of Rin's sudden mood-swing, it took the girl awhile to answer, but she did, sounding a bit petulant as she did so, "Don't play dumb, I'm talking about that hirax you killed in the clearing! You set it on fire and everything!" her scowl was back, but it wasn't nearly so dangerous now that the girl knew she didn't have a chance in hell of hurting him or his brother, Rin noted smugly. And then he thought, '_Hirax? That's really what that thing was called?_'

Just to be sure, he asked, "You mean that bobcat-wolf thing that attacked us?"

"Yes! That's a hirax, and I accepted the mission to kill it because it was raiding the farms near the forest!"

"...Oh. Sorry 'bout that, then. Me and Yukio only killed it cause it attacked us."

And Rin could kind of understand why the girl was so angry about it - after all, he knew how he would feel if he was on an exorcist mission and someone swooped in and finished it before he got there. Seeing as the girl obviously wasn't feeling murderous anymore, Rin introduced himself, "Hey, the name's Rin, and the guy you knocked out is my twin brother Yukio. You know, we won't take credit for killing the thing, so why don't you just say you killed it and get the money?"

The girl's shoulders slumped, and she said grouchily, "...Vivi Shale. That's my name. And I can't take credit for a kill I didn't make, it just wouldn't be right, so I won't, not even for the 500,000 Jewel reward." The mention of the reward was said wistfully, though now Rin was confused again.

"Eh? What are 'Jewels'? You mean like diamonds and stuff?"

Vivi looked at him weirdly and corrected, "Uh, no, I mean money. Haven't you ever seen any? You know, slips of paper with numbers written on them?" Okay, that last part was pretty sarcastic, but Rin could let that go in favor of maybe getting some information.

"Oh, is that what you call money here? Jewels?"

"Well, yeah, that's what it's called everywhere in Fiore."

Yeah, Vivi was definitely looking at him weirdly now, but Rin pressed on. "And where is 'here', exactly? A town called Fiore?"

"No! What are you, stupid?" Vivi asked in exasperation, finally relaxing enough to plop down on the ground, mimicking Rin's cross-legged posture, "You're in the Mystic Forest, near the town of Marigold, in the kingdom of Fiore!"

Rin could already tell he was going to have a lot of information to remember so he could tell it all to Yukio after he woke up. Well, hopefully the nap will have put his more by-the-rules twin in a good mood, Rin thought with a sigh, turning his attention back to Vivi and preparing to quiz her all about this place where he and his brother had been transported.

* * *

_Author's Note: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this little experiment. I might write a sequel to this about Rin and Yukio's adventures in Fiore if the plot bunnies take to the idea, but for now that's all she wrote. ;P I mostly just wanted to see if I could do a decent job writing the twins' characters, so be sure and tell me what you thought about them! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


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